The supervillain the Penguin, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger,[1] made his first appearance in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941). Since then, he has been adapted into other forms of media, including feature films, television series, and video games.
Burgess Meredith as The Penguin in Batman.Robin Lord Taylor portrays a younger Oswald Cobblepot on the 2014 TV series Gotham.
The Penguin appears in Batman (1966), portrayed by Burgess Meredith. This version possesses a "quacking" laugh, which covered a cough caused by cigarette usage.[2]
The Penguin was set to appear in Challenge of the Superfriends as a member of the Legion of Doom. However, due to the development of The New Adventures of Batman, the Penguin was removed.[7]
The Penguin appears in television series set in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), voiced by Paul Williams.[8] This version's initial design is visually inspired by the Batman Returns incarnation before he was redesigned to more resemble his comic counterpart.
The Penguin first appears in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), where he is served by several henchmen - Jay, Raven, Eagleton, Falcone, and Sheldrake - as well as trained birds.
The Penguin appears in The New Batman Adventures, in which he has founded the Iceberg Lounge and seemingly reformed while secretly continuing his criminal activities.
The Penguin appears in The Batman (2004), voiced by Tom Kenny.[8] This version turned to crime to rebuild his wealth and re-establish his family name. Additionally, he is aided by two silent henchmen, the Kabuki Twins, whom he recruited during a trip to China, and has history with Alfred Pennyworth's family.
The Penguin appears in the first two seasons of Harley Quinn, voiced by Wayne Knight.[8] This version is Jewish, has a nephew named Joshua (voiced by Sean Giambrone), and appears as a member of the Legion of Doom in the first season and the Injustice League in the second season. In the latter season, he and the League take over Gotham City after the Joker destroys it before Harley Quinn kills him in retaliation for being excluding from the League.
Oswalda Cobblepot, a gender-flipped incarnation of the Penguin, appears in the Batman: Caped Crusader episode "In Treacherous Waters", voiced by Minnie Driver.[10]
The Batman (1966) incarnation of the Penguin appears in the series' film adaptation, portrayed again by Burgess Meredith.
Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin appears in Batman Returns, portrayed by Danny DeVito. As an infant, this version was left for dead by his family due to birth defects before he is found by penguins from a condemned Gotham City zoo. As a child, he joined the Red Triangle Circus Gang as part of their freak show before eventually taking over. DeVito's portrayal as the Penguin was largely praised, though some considered him inferior to Jack Nicholson's Joker in Batman (1989). Additionally, DeVito was suggested for the role by his friend Nicholson following Batman (1989)'s success.[11] According to DeVito, "It was four-and-a-half hours of makeup and getting into the costume. We got it down to three hours by the end of the shoot".[12] Uncredited script doctor, Wesley Strick, recalled, "When I was hired to write [Batman Returns], the big problem of the script was the Penguin's lack of a 'master plan'."[13] He took inspiration from a Moses parallel that had the Penguin killing the firstborn sons of Gotham. A similar notion was used when the Penguin's parents threw him into a river as a baby.[13] While this Penguin retained many trademarks, such as his top hat, a variety of trick umbrellas and the use of a monocle, he was given a dramatic visual makeover. Where the comic version varies between having a balding head of short cropped hair and varying degrees of thinning, this Penguin is still bald at the top but with his remaining length of hair long and stringy. His hands are flippers with a thumb and index finger, and the remaining three fingers fused together. An unidentified thick, dark green bile-like liquid sometimes trickles from his nose and mouth. Instead of a tuxedo, he wears a more gothic, Victorian-style outfit with a jabot as opposed to a bow tie. In certain scenes, he also wears black boots, a dickey, and a union suit. He also has a penguin-like appetite, as shown in a scene where he devours a raw fish, and uses a vehicle shaped like a giant rubber duck to move around the sewers and the city. Janet Maslin in The New York Times described DeVito as "conveying verve".[14]Peter Travers in Rolling Stone wrote that "DeVito's mutant Penguin — a balloon-bellied Richard III with a kingdom of sewer freaks — is as hilariously warped as Jack Nicholson's Joker and even quicker with the quips."[15]Desson Howe in The Washington Post wrote that the Penguin holds court in a penguin-crowded, Phantom of the Opera-like sewer home. He also described DeVito as "exquisite".[16]Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times compared the Penguin negatively with the Joker of the first film, writing that "the Penguin is a curiously meager and depressing creature; I pitied him, but did not fear him or find him funny. The genius of Danny DeVito is all but swallowed up in the paraphernalia of the role."[17]Jonathan Rosenbaum called DeVito "a pale substitute for Jack Nicholson from the first film" and felt that "there's no suspense in Batman Returns whatsoever".[18]
A young Oswald Cobblepot appears in The Batman (2022), portrayed by Colin Farrell, who received DeVito's blessing for the role.[19] This version is the right-hand man of crime lord Carmine Falcone who resents the "Penguin" nickname.[20][21]
The Penguin appears in the Batman Unlimited series of films, voiced again by Dana Snyder.[8] This version is the leader of the Animilitia who possesses a robotic monocle.
A Feudal Japan-inspired incarnation of the Penguin appears in Batman Ninja, voiced by Chō in the Japanese dub and again by Tom Kenny in the English dub.[24][25][26][8]
The Penguin appears in Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, voiced again by William Salyers.[8] This version is a professor and explorer who helped found Gotham City centuries prior before gaining longevity through dark magic. In the present, he embarks on an expedition to Antarctica, coming to live with its penguin population after the deaths of his crewmates.
The Penguin appears in Batman: The Telltale Series, voiced by Jason Spisak as an adult and by Cole Sand as a child.[8] This version is a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne and a member of the Children of Arkham terrorist group whose name is derived from a beak-shaped gas mask he wears during his crimes. Additionally, he seeks revenge on the Wayne family after Bruce's father Thomas Wayne had the Penguin's mother Esther drugged, rendered psychotic, and forcibly committed to Arkham Asylum for refusing to sell land she owned to him. Due to his friendship with Bruce, the Penguin attempts to warn him about the Children of Arkham's plans before helping them attack Gotham City, during which he may scar Harvey Dent depending on the player's choices, before he is eventually defeated by Batman.
The Penguin was set to appear as a playable character in Injustice 2, but was cut for unknown reasons.[29]
Penguin appears in the Batman: Arkham franchise, voiced by Nolan North in the main series and Ian Redford in Batman: Arkham VR.[32][33] This version's monocle is part of a glass bottle that was shoved into his face and became lodged too deeply to safely remove. He also speaks with an East London dialect, which is heavily implied to be an attempt at making himself more intimidating to his followers.
The Penguin first appears in Batman: Arkham City as a criminal kingpin of the titular city prison until he is defeated by Batman and imprisoned by Mr. Freeze.[34]
A young Penguin appears in Batman: Arkham Origins as a weapons dealer based in a refitted cruise liner called the Final Offer until he is arrested in the Cold, Cold Heart DLC following a failed alliance with Mr. Freeze.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacad"Penguin Voices (Batman)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved January 1, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
^Game Informer features a two-page gallery of the many heroes and villains who appear in the game with a picture for each character and a descriptive paragraph. See "LEGO Batman: Character Gallery", Game Informer 186 (October 2008): 93.
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